Phosphate mines have reduced the flow in river

Thursday

May 31, 2007 at 4:13 AM

The letter Saturday by David Townsend, assistant vice president of public affairs for Mosaic Fertilizer in Mulberry, chastising the Herald-Tribune editorial staff, is yet one more attempt by the phosphate industry to deceive Charlotte County's citizens.

In the letter, he wrote that "these judges concluded that future phosphate mining will have no significant adverse impact on water quantity or quality in the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor."

In 2005, Gray Gordon, who was vice president of public affairs for Mosaic then, made a similar claim, as did Bob Kinsey, VP of IMC Phosphate in 2003. Each time, I have set the record straight with the truth. Unfortunately, I need to do so again.

These folks try to support their little deception by quoting paragraph 153 of the judge's order, where he was quoting the phosphate industry's claims. The judge's conclusions are actually found five pages later in paragraph 163, which reads, "It is also clear that phosphate mining has historically contributed to some extent to decreased stream flow in the Peace River."

This particular order recommended denial of the permit to mine the Altman Tract. If you wish to receive an electronic copy of the order, to read it and to draw your own conclusions, please contact my office at adam.cummings@charlottefl.com.

The industry representatives have now tried the same deception three times. We'll just keep that in mind the next time they try to fool us.